Controlling the cost of warranty returns amid rising freight costs

Costs for freight have risen steeply since the middle of last year because of rising interest rates, higher price of fuel, and driver capacity constraints

Average freight rate per mile have risen between 20% and 30% so far this year

Experts from Mize share few strategies to control the cost of shipping warranty related returns amid the rising freight rates:

Reduce the number of returns by capturing rich failure information on claims such as annotated pictures, diagnostic files, and even videos.

If parts are being returned for quality analysis, use sampling techniques to bring back fewer returns rather than shipping back every failed part

If parts are being returned to support supplier recovery, ship parts direct to the vendor instead of shipping to your warehouse and then forwarding to the supplier. You can avoid incurring double shipping costs by generating RMA and shipping labels to suppliers directly.

Integrate RMA with multiple carriers to compare freight rates and select right carrier, and shipping method to optimize costs. Negotiate discounts for rates with select carriers based on consolidated shipping volume to reduce freight costs.

Implement remanufacturing practices to restore products or parts to like-new condition, and make a profit on redistribution and sale of remanufactured goods